| cl | | | | from a charity to compose music for a benefit |
| The composer lay down his baton at the conclusion of | | | | performance. He worked feverishly, hardly eating or |
| what he believed would be his last performance. At | | | | sleeping but rapturously lost in a creative ecstasy, |
| 56, heâd already suffered a stroke which | | | | known only to masters such as himself. In only three |
| temporarily paralyzed his right arm. His life had been | | | | weeks, his masterpiece was complete. His |
| marked by an endless string of financial failures from | | | | nameâGeorge Frideric Handel. The |
| which even his formidable talent had been unable to | | | | masterpieceâhis celebrated oratorio Messiah, |
| rescue him. In 1741, in England, that usually meant | | | | a triumph of musical genius that still enjoys a place of |
| confinement to debtorsâ prison. | | | | honor amongst Christmas and Easter performances |
| But then, two seemingly small events converged which | | | | over 250 years later. The house in London where he |
| would change his life. He received a libretto from a | | | | composed the work is now a museum dedicated to |
| friend based on the life of Christ, and a commission | | | | him. |